Disclaimer:

I’m going to start off by saying that I’m not giving any identifying information about the other party in this video – this video is not about slander, I’m not going to name and shame the person, but I do want to share a cautionary tale so others learn from my mistakes.

The corset I tried to buy was What Katie Did brand, but I have never had any issue with this brand’s customer service or quality – I’ve reviewed this brand a dozen times on my channel before – their corsets have stood up over time. So there is no issue with WKD themselves.

It was a regular August afternoon, just like any other.

Each month I put up a poll on my Patreon page asking my lovely patrons which corset brand and style they want me to review next. In July there was a tie between an Etsy sample and one of the new WKD style (since they recently redesigned all their corsets).

I was about to purchase a corset directly from WKD’s site, but I decided to check some BST (buy, sell, trade) corset groups in various forums and social media pages, just in case someone posted a WKD corset in my size.

Almost serendipitously, there was someone selling their Luna waspie in my size! I messaged them right away. The price new would be £140 while this person was selling theirs for £100 plus shipping. (This is a reasonable price for a 2nd hand corset; I usually look for a savings of 60% to 75% of the original price, if it’s gently used with no damage and little signs of wear.)

I am very experienced with buying and selling lightly used corsets, so I didn’t anticipate this situation to be any different than the others.

Red Flag #1: Asking that I cover the Paypal fees.

First, the seller asked that I cover the Paypal fees. This is against Paypal’s terms of service (which I’ll explain later) but I know that this sort of this is common in these groups. So I made a mental note of this, but I thought “Whatever… adding another 3% on top of the discounted price is still a good deal.” I agreed to pay £119 total: £100 for the corset, £15 for shipping and £4 on top of that (which amounts to ~ 3% fees).

Red Flag #2: Asking additional fees after I had already paid what we agreed on.

I sent the payment through Paypal and when they received the money, they told me it wasn’t enough and wanted me to pay an additional amount on top of the fees I had already paid for. At that point I was getting a little bit suspicious, but I kept it polite and cordial – I explained that we did not agree to pay more than what we had previously discussed, so if it was going to cost more than that, I change my mind about the purchase and could they kindly give a refund. (The corset hadn’t shipped yet so it was still fair to ask this).

The seller said “It’s fine, don’t worry about it, the price is close enough,” and shipped the corset. (They said they would ship it on the 10th, but the stamp said it was not shipped until more than a week later – but this is small enough that I don’t consider it too big a red flag; after all, life gets busy sometimes.)

Red Flag #3: Overstating the value of the corset in the customs forms.

Several weeks later, I went to the post office to pick up my new corset, and was shocked to hear that I owed them $126 in taxes and duty. The reason for this is because the value stated on the parcel was (for some bizarre reason) £200, or $348 when converted. That is not what the Luna corset was even worth brand new (even with the price of shipping, VAT, any additional fees, etc, it still would not have come up to that much). This is twice the purchase price we had agreed on for the corset itself. The only reason I could think of for them overestimating the value of a parcel is if they:
a) wanted to cash in on extra money if the parcel were lost in the post (which is deceitful anyway), or
b) they might have been bitter about my refusing to pay more, and wanted me to get dinged by the post once delivered.

I had no choice but to pay the $126, but I will be contesting it because I still have the Paypal receipt for what I paid – but from what I’ve read, people do not often successfully get reimbursed when they’re overcharged duty.

Over $330 dollars later (more than I would have paid if I just bought the corset brand new), the corset is finally in my hands.

Finally, I unboxed the corset during this month’s Patreon livestream. I noted that it was very similar in its cut and construction to WKD’s old styles, but it was dark at the time so I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until the next morning that I was taking a closer look at it, that I realized it’s not the Luna corset at all.

Red Flag #4: It’s not even the right corset!!

After looking closely at some archived images and dimensions (thanks to the Wayback machine and my Corset Database), I realized that I had received the Baby waspie, one of their WKD’d old styles, which I have already reviewed in the past.

The measurements match the Baby, and does not match the stated measurements for the Luna.

It has a 3-pin busk (like the Baby) instead of a 4-pin busk (like the Luna).

It is single boned on the seams, with external boning channels, like the Baby (the Luna has sandwiched double bones).

It has an attached modesty panel like the Baby corset (the Luna does not come with a modesty panel, but a floating panel can be purchased separately).

The hardware, like the busk width/ quality and the grommets are all old-style, whereas they’ve changed their hardware sources for the Luna.

Normally I prefer to assume the best in others – what if this person purchased the corset in WKD’s shop, and they thought it was the Luna corset but they were mistaken? Maybe they couldn’t tell the difference. But then again, the Baby corset has been discontinued for well over a year now.

I also know that in some buy/sell/trade groups, some people will buy out dresses or products in side-walk sales, clearance racks, and liquidation events for up to 80% off, and then re-sell those items in Facebook buy/sell/trade groups for profit. (Oftentimes Facebook marketplace allows this – this type of resale of clothing is technically not illegal). Could this seller have done the same in this situation, snapping up a Baby corset at deep discount and selling it for more?

There was technically only one way to find out: I messaged the seller.

Red Flag #5: No response / ignored by the seller.

Again, I tried the sugar approach – I told them that the corset arrived safely, thanked them for the prompt shipping, but mentioned that I noticed that it’s not the Luna corset as advertised, it’s the discontinued Baby corset instead. I noted the evidence of the corset being the Baby and not the Luna (old hardware, old measurements, old construction). I asked them around what timeframe they had purchased this corset. I kept it cordial and asked a clear question, allowing them space to answer, or even give some kind of excuse.

My message was read just a few minutes later, but they never responded.

So, over $330 later, I have a corset that is… wearable (it’s functional!), but it’s not what was advertised and it’s useless for a review. However, I could (and I’m tempted to) re-review this corset out of spite, so that my money wouldn’t be a total waist waste. The last time I reviewed the Baby corset, it was 2011 and I hadn’t yet established my systematic order of doing reviews – so if you want me to review this corset again, comment below and I can do so – but I don’t know who it’s going to serve because this style is not available for purchase (unless you want to buy this corset off me, so I can get a bit of my money back).

I thought I was a savvy and seasoned corset shopper, but even I messed up this time.

So, what should have been done differently?

Here are some tips for buyers so you can avoid getting scammed in these BST groups (and sellers, so you can learn to play by the rules properly):

The seller should never ask the buyer to cover Paypal / bank fees. It is a common occurrence in buy/sell/trade groups, but you have to know that this is against their terms of service. If they catch you, they could terminate your account without warning or appeal. If you’re a seller and you hate the idea of losing $3-4 on your $100 corset, you can inflate your sales price (e.g. $105 instead of $100), and it’s up to the buyer if they want to meet your price. But you cannot specifically demand that others cover a sales fee.

Send your payment as “goods and services”. The seller should not specifically ask or demand that you send payment as a family or friend (unless the seller really is family / friend and you trust them a lot). If you send money as a friend, then as far as the system is concerned, you are sending a loved one a monetary gift, and there is no buyer protection – so if your parcel gets lost in the mail or if the seller doesn’t ship anything, you’re not able to easily dispute it.

When you’re sending payment, there is usually a box to write comments – spend the extra 30 seconds or a minute to fill it out with the details of your purchase. Break down the cost for each part – for instance, write, “Hello [seller’s name], here is $80 for the [brand, style name, color, size] dress, plus $10 for shipping.” Sellers: if you are sending an invoice, you can break down the price like this too – so you have absolute proof of what you agreed on, in case you need to contest the value, or you accidentally received something different.

If you are selling and shipping an item, state the purchase price of that item on the parcel as the value, no more, no less. Don’t include the shipping fee in the value of the item. Don’t include the tax of the item (if you’re shipping to a different country, that international customer DOES NOT pay state/federal taxes!). Buyers, DO NOT ask a seller to declare the value of a parcel as less than it is (like stating that a $100 item is only $10 or something) because that’s illegal, and the highest penalty for that could be tax fraud. But there are also problems with stating the value as too much – like the government charging too much duty.

Do save the listing of an independent seller and compare it with the original listing on the brand’s website. Screencap the listing if necessary, and compare both the pictures and the descriptions, side by side. Count the busk pins if it’s a corset. Ask for more info if the listing is sparse. Ask for close-up photos if none are provided in the listing (especially if there’s any damage declared). (In my case, the listing was removed before I could save it, but I do have FB messenger evidence.)

If you doubt the label/ brand of the corset, ask for photo evidence. In my case, I received a real WKD corset (not a knockoff), but if you have doubts about whether someone might be selling a knockoff of a certain dress or design, ask for a photo of the label. Ask the seller to include a post-it note with your name or the date written on it, stuck beside the designer label so you know that the seller didn’t just swipe a picture of the label off the internet and send it to you.

What do you think – rookie seller mistake, or scam? What other tips would you include to avoid getting scammed? Leave a comment down below!

Hi Jo! I’m not sure if you’ve seen my video and article on the profile and cross section of different corsets? I think it has to do with the patterning (the way each panel is cut) in addition to a flat abdomen (not too dished) and lastly the bones (perhaps flat steels instead of spirals at the side seam, but doesn’t have to be that way).

Thank you for sharing that cautionary tale, Lucy! I learned a lot from your story, as well as from the other tips volunteered in comments on the video on YouTube.

I was interested to read the comments about the seller’s over-valuation of the contents of the parcel that she posted to you. Several people said that they believed that this might have been malicious, ie. rather than accidental, or in order to make illegal profit from insurance if the package were to be lost in the post.

It had never occurred to me before that a seller might do this out of spite but it might well explain a similar experience that a friend and I were puzzling over last week.

In this instance, the buyer is very experienced and expert in estimating the market value of the item advertised on eBay (a high quality but very badly damaged musical instrument being sold for “parts or repair”). The Reserve Price for auction was very low but the “Buy it Now Price” was well above the “going rate”.

My friend contacted the Seller and made an offer to buy at what he considered to be a very fair price, which was 60% of the “Buy it Now Price”. The seller rejected the offer, so my friend put in a bid in the Auction for the same amount. There were no other bidders when the auction ended, so my friend ended up paying a pittance and the seller lost out massively.

However, when the parcel arrived in the UK from the USA, he found that the seller had “valued” the contents well above the original “Buy it Now Price”. The “value” made no sense, even if the shipping cost had been inadvertently included. This “value” meant that my friend had to pay import taxes well above what he expected and what should have been due legally.

It never occurred to either of us that the Seller might have inflated the value of the parcel contents out of spite. In the circumstances, and knowledge now that others have experienced similar issues, this seems a very likely explanation.

The relevant tip, about listing all the elements of the cost (price, tax, postage and packing) in the Comments on a PayPal payment, is something that I will bear in mind and will pass on.

I have got a tip of my own, relevant to “too good to be true” adverts for “high quality brand” items being offered at unexpectedly low prices.

*I know that this was NOT an issue with your purchase, Lucy, so I hope that this does not sow any seeds of confusion here.*

Tip: Try contacting the “high quality brand, politely asking if they would be able to verify that the item for sale is genuine.

If you get a helpful reply, possible outcomes include:
– the item is verified as genuine and you have a chance to bag a bargain.
– the item is identified as a fake and you avoid being scammed.

I bought a rare, high quality, mint condition guitar offered at a fraction of the expected price after I emailed the guitar maker in the USA, asking if he would mind checking out a “too good to be true” Buy It Now advert on eBay. There were over 20 people “Watching” the advert, dithering, wondering if it could really be genuine or if it was a fake.

The maker replied within 10 minutes, verifying that it was one of his, and saying “Go for it!” :-) He also advised that, from the eBay photos, it still had the inappropriate strings on it that the buyer had insisted on being fitted over 10 years earlier – and which strings I should use instead. The guitar arrived in a custom flight case, that the seller had not even bothered to mention in the advert. The case alone was worth about $300 – so it was an even more jaw-dropping bargain overall.

Today, I have contacted a very reputable corset maker asking if they could advise about a “too good to be true” eBay advert. There are several “red flags” on this one. I will have to wait and see what reply I get from the corset maker. It might turn out to be genuine. If it is not genuine, then either the seller is unaware that she bought a fake in the first place or it is a deliberate scam.

Thank you again for this blog post – and congratulations for maintaining your customary dignity and decorum in your dealings with the vendor and in telling your story!

I’m terribly sorry of what happened to you. I really think from the details you shared there’s a very slim chance this was a rookie seller mistake, in my opinion it sounds kind of nasty.
Your tips were great! Especially since I’ve started selling vintage and antique last year, and I’m deathly afraid of accidentally being charged or giving my customers a hard time.
Thank you for sharing your story with us.

As another tip I can give, this might sound kind of bad, but interacting with the seller to begin with means a lot to me. When I approach a seller, and they respond in a way that avoids questions, or something is too good to be true, or they don’t reply at all, I won’t buy the good, no matter how rare or amazing the item is. It’s a bummer, but I’d rather be safe.

Hi Lucy, I have been avidly watching your videos because I am new to corsetry. You have been a great help. I purchased 3 from Corset Story because of the 2 for 3 sale.
I have received them. And every one of them didn’t fit. I am in contact with a person who has been very helpful.
I read the size guide and still got it wrong. I thought I was a 36 but I’m a 34.
The whole point of going into corsets is because I have osteoarthritis of the spine. I had tried one on at Scarborough Faire. I was cinched in nice and tight. I didn’t hurt!
I am hoping that you can advise me here. I am returning all of the corsets.
But in the purchasing process I couldn’t move fast enough. My busk size is 13″. They don’t have too many that short. Might you know of another company that has as wonderful sales as well more petite sizes?
Is this company ultra good with returns and customer service?
Thanks ~Mel

Hi Mel, unfortunately I’ve never attempted a return with Corset Story before, my apologies. I hope they accept your return.
In the meantime while you’re looking for shorter corsets, I have two galleries here on my blog that you might be interested in:Cinchers / Waspies, and Longline corsets for the Short-waisted.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website (as well as the contents in Lucy Corsetry's Youtube videos, and on other social media) are based upon the research, opinions and personal experience of Lucy Corsetry and others within the corset community. Please note that the content on this site is provided for information and sometimes entertainment purposes, and it is not intended as medical advice, nor does it replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified medical physician. The information herein is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any ailment. Lucy Corsetry strongly recommends that you consult with your trusted healthcare professional(s) before purchasing or using a corset for any reason, and ensure that your health and well-being is monitored regularly. Although some individuals may use corsets for therapeutic or corrective purposes, you should ensure that you yourself are in good physical condition before pursuing corset wear, and also understand that any form of body modification is not without risks. If you purchase or wear a corset for any reason, whether aesthetic, therapeutic or otherwise, you agree that you do so at your own risk, i.e. you agree that you are voluntarily participating in such activities, you assume all risk of injury to yourself, and you agree to release and discharge Lucy Corsetry from any and all claims or causes of action, known or unknown, arising out of Lucy Corsetry's negligence.

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